Studio Equipment 32

Jenkinson likes the challenge of coaxing unfound sounds from gear, even as he... more

Jenkinson likes the challenge of coaxing unfound sounds from gear, even as he recognizes the shortcomings of something like the QY700’s timing in comparison to a digital sequencer. He doesn’t crave perfection, which he considers an old-school approach. Exact timing would only retain its meticulous nature for so long once the outboard units are coupled with the self-taught programmer’s “hacks,” which he cobbles together in SuperCollider, Pure Data, and Reaktor.

In this Sound On Sound interview (Jumble Sale Studio section), upon detailing... more

In this Sound On Sound interview (Jumble Sale Studio section), upon detailing and explaining how he made his own spring reverb, he mentions that the AKG BX-15 and AKG BX-20 spring reverb units were also extensively used on the album "Hello Everything". He even specifies certain tracks.
Quote from Tom himself: "The reverb uses four pairs of Accutronics type 1, 4, 8 and 9 springs. The stereo input stages incorporate a soft-clip circuit, high shelving EQ and spring selectors that send the input to a given pair of springs. There are four output stages to which the springs can be assigned. Each output stage has signal invert, volume and pan controls. The springs can be used in parallel or series, where one spring signal is fed into another. The circuit grounding uses star topology. It was used extensively on the album Hello Everything, in conjunction with my AKG BX15 and BX20 reverbs. It is clearly audible at the starts of 'Bubble Life', 'Circlewave' and 'Plotinus'.”

In this Sound On Sound interview (Jumble Sale Studio section), upon detailing... more

In this Sound On Sound interview (Jumble Sale Studio section), upon detailing and explaining how he made his own spring reverb, he mentions that the AKG BX-15 and AKG BX-20 spring reverb units were also extensively used on the album "Hello Everything". Quote from Tom himself: "The reverb uses four pairs of Accutronics type 1, 4, 8 and 9 springs. The stereo input stages incorporate a soft-clip circuit, high shelving EQ and spring selectors that send the input to a given pair of springs. There are four output stages to which the springs can be assigned. Each output stage has signal invert, volume and pan controls. The springs can be used in parallel or series, where one spring signal is fed into another. The circuit grounding uses star topology. It was used extensively on the album Hello Everything, in conjunction with my AKG BX15 and BX20 reverbs. It is clearly audible at the starts of 'Bubble Life', 'Circlewave' and 'Plotinus'.”

From the interview: "It's a ragtag collection of stuff, and there's no discernible overall 'vintage' rationale behind the collection as a whole. The most significant pieces are a Roland TR909, TB303, SH101, V?Synth XT and V?Bass 99, Neve 1073 mic pre, AKG BX15 spring reverb, TC Electronics D2 delay, DBX 1066, a self?made mechanical reverb,
Tom Jenkinson's custom?made spring reverb: "The reverb uses four pairs of Accutronics type 1, 4, 8 and 9 springs. The stereo input stages incorporate a soft-clip circuit, high shelving EQ and spring selectors that send the input to a given pair of springs. There are four output stages to which the springs can be assigned. Each output stage has signal invert, volume and pan controls. The springs can be used in parallel or series, where one spring signal is fed into another. The circuit grounding uses star topology. It was used extensively on the album Hello Everything, in conjunction with my AKG BX15 and BX20 reverbs. It is clearly audible at the starts of 'Bubble Life', 'Circlewave' and 'Plotinus'.”
Tom Jenkinson's custom?made spring reverb: "The reverb uses four pairs of Accutronics type 1, 4, 8 and 9 springs. The stereo input stages incorporate a soft-clip circuit, high shelving EQ and spring selectors that send the input to a given pair of springs. There are four output stages to which the springs can be assigned. Each output stage has signal invert, volume and pan controls. The springs can be used in parallel or series, where one spring signal is fed into another. The circuit grounding uses star topology. It was used extensively on the album Hello Everything, in conjunction with my AKG BX15 and BX20 reverbs. It is clearly audible at the starts of 'Bubble Life', 'Circlewave' and 'Plotinus'.”
Axon AX100 MIDI bass module, MOTU 24I/O audio interface, Dynaudio Acoustics M1 monitors, Yamaha CS80, TX81Z and FS1R synths and QY700 sequencer. A huge amount of gear has also been and gone, like the Yamaha VSS80 8?bit toy keyboard sampler shown in some late '90s television footage of Jenkinson."

In the "Old School" section of this interview, Jenkinson explains his experie... more

In the "Old School" section of this interview, Jenkinson explains his experiences with recording mediums throughout the years. According to Tom Jenkinson himself, "[...] As for recording, I used tape recorders exclusively until 2001. I first had a Fostex M80 quarter?inch eight?track, and in the late '90s I obtained a half?inch Tascam MSR16. I still use that, though it's being repaired at the moment. I have to say that I'm not obsessive about it. Recording to tape, or to a computer?based multitrack, is a means to an end. I mix and match now. I've used Sonic Foundry's Vegas, and more recently Nuendo, but I don't endorse or recommend them. There's no love in it for me, they really are just tools."

In the "Old School" section of this interview, Jenkinson explains his experie... more

In the "Old School" section of this interview, Jenkinson explains his experiences with recording mediums throughout the years. According to Tom Jenkinson himself, "[...] As for recording, I used tape recorders exclusively until 2001. I first had a Fostex M80 quarter-inch eight-track, and in the late '90s I obtained a half-inch Tascam MSR16. I still use that, though it's being repaired at the moment. I have to say that I'm not obsessive about it. Recording to tape, or to a computer-based multitrack, is a means to an end. I mix and match now. I've used Sonic Foundry's Vegas, and more recently Nuendo, but I don't endorse or recommend them. There's no love in it for me, they really are just tools."

This 1996 interview offers a pretty close look at Tom Jenkinson's "full time ... more

This 1996 interview offers a pretty close look at Tom Jenkinson's "full time residential studio", as he refers to it. At 1:32 into this video, his Roland TR-606 is shown with what appears to be a custom Squarepusher sticker on it.

This 1996 interview offers a pretty close look at Tom Jenkinson's "full time ... more

This 1996 interview offers a pretty close look at Tom Jenkinson's "full time residential studio", as he refers to it. At 2:00 into this video, his Roland TR-707 can be spotted at the background with what appears to be a Roland Memory Cartridge present on the 707's respective slot.

This particular piece of gear already visually appeared in his work previously. Tom also released a record under the alias "Chaos A.D". The album is named "Buzz Caner", and features a pretty curious cover (link: http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/jukebox.php?image=display.jpg&group=Chaos%20A.D.&album=Buzz%20Caner). At the top left portion of it, there is a photograph of a guy (presumably Tom) tweaking a Roland TB-303. In this photograph, the 707 can also be spotted, along with what possibly is a 101 behind it.

In this 1996 interview, Tom Jenkinson briefly explains his (at the time) laye... more

In this 1996 interview, Tom Jenkinson briefly explains his (at the time) layer-by-layer method of making music (1:53 mark). The mixer that he utilizes appears to be a Soundcraft Spirit Folio 12/2 Mixer with switched (and even missing) faders. After comparing with the original product, the different colored faders can be noticed.

Right at the intro of the video, behind Tom we can see a lot of gear in a rac... more

Right at the intro of the video, behind Tom we can see a lot of gear in a rack. One of those pieces is the Tascam CD-RW2000. It can be clearly spotted in the 0:19 mark, in which, from the top to the bottom, it is the 4th unit.

In this session, Squarepusher performs alongside drummer Alex in his own priv... more

In this session, Squarepusher performs alongside drummer Alex in his own private studio, as he describes at the introduction scene. Throughout the video, there's a mixer that can be seen in Tom Jenkinson's main desk (which features a computer monitor). Many hints indicate that the mixer is indeed the Mackie 24.8.2:
* In the Sound On Sound interview, Tom mentions having the Mackie 28.8 before having the Euphonix CS3000. It's very likely that there was a mistake in this interview, as there is no such Mackie 28.8 mixer.
* 0:27 into this video we get a zoom at the mixer's panel, showing the levels as well as some buttons and (partiatly) knobs, which greatly resembles the ones seen in the 24.8.2.
* In the Hello Everything album cover, there's a picture of a pair of hands operating a mixer. Again, the knobs, faders, buttons and overall design do match the ones of the 24.8.2.

This MIDI controller can be spotted 0:12 into this video. At the left portion... more

This MIDI controller can be spotted 0:12 into this video. At the left portion of the screen, there's a rack with an Eventide DSP4000 on the top position (black knob, white keys/numpad). In the piece that is found under it, there can be spotted 4 horizontal rows of knobs, and "Doepfer" written at the bottom right of the unit. This camera angle still reveals other few letters written on the piece: "[...]oller". All these evidences point to the Doepfer Drehbank MIDI Controller.

This picture, taken from the Squarepusher's Sound On Sound interview, reveals... more

This picture, taken from the Squarepusher's Sound On Sound interview, reveals an AXON AX100 MIDI Module that Tom uses with his bass. It's found in the right portion of the picture, near the two bass guitars. It's a blue rack module made by Blue Chip. This is the main visual difference between this AX100 and the AX100MKII, which was actually made by Terratec.

The 6th picture of this interview shows lots of Jenkinson's rack modules. On ... more

The 6th picture of this interview shows lots of Jenkinson's rack modules. On the right portion of the picture, there are 3 particular pieces together: The bottom piece is the Yamaha TX81Z, the middle one is the Yamaha FS1r (which can also be seen together in other pictures such as this one, below the TB-303). Finally, the top one is the MOTU MIDI Express 128 MIDI Interface, as hinted by several facts:
- The blue MOTU brand at the left.
- One MIDI connection at the left part of the unit's panel.
- A single green light, indicating that the "Computer I/O" LED seen in the unit is lit.
- The white and illegible names near the green LED greatly resembles the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT display names present on the actual machine.

This picture has a nice picture of some of Jenkinson's rack gear. In this par... more

This picture has a nice picture of some of Jenkinson's rack gear. In this particular shot, the Roland VB-99 can be seen at the top, followed by the V-Synth XT and the MOTU 24 I/O. The blue piece at the bottom, however, is none other than the MOTU 828 MK1.